SKU: HL.50512046

ISBN 9790080148051. 10.25x14.25x0.356 inches. Laszlo Tihanyi.

The work (completed in December 2011) is commissioned by Vladimir Tarnopolski and his Ensemble Studio for New Music Moscow.Composing this piece it made me meditate on my relationship to Russian culture. I realised that not only Russian music is very important for me but also Russian literature, fine arts and film. I decided to write a piece which is based on imaginary dialogs with two extraordinary directors: Eisenstein and Tarkovsky. I tried to express my reactions to their visions of the world in music and find my possible connections with them. (Laszlo Tihanyi).

SKU: HL.48024013

ISBN 9781495090097. UPC: 888680671266. 11x14 inches.

Deep-Sky Objects is a cycle of love songs set in the distant future, exploring intergalactic longing and desire. It is scored for soprano, piano quintet, and pre-recorded electronic sounds. When the piano quintet was in its heyday, the subject that permeated so many of the great Romantic song cycles was that of longing and lost love. Deep-Sky Objects transfers this trope to the outer reaches of the universe In the cycle a woman sings of her lover who is far away in a remote planet in some unspecified star system. At moments she remembers a time when they were together, but mostly she longs for him and stoically imagines that his presence, even so remote, gives her hope:

I can live in the world

With your love because

I know you exist

at the end of the black universe

The electronics part often references various “sounds from space,” from pulsars (which are routinely converted into audio signals by astronomers), the signals of made-made satellites, actual audio of the Huygens probe landing on Saturn's moon, Titan, as well as many sounds suggestive of the eerie, remote and unfathomable reaches of deep space. Each of the ten songs is preceded by a short sample, or incipit, which creates micro-compositions based on the title of each song. The text is written specifically for Deep-Sky Objects, by Sarah Manguso.–Sebastian Currier.